


Slow and Steady

by liar_iago



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 12:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3610587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liar_iago/pseuds/liar_iago
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Koutaro is hard to handle--he knows this. He needs someone who can keep up with him at his best and yet be willing to take it slow when he is at his lowest. He finds this and more in Shouyo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow and Steady

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this like....today lol. this is such a sweet ship i love it so much so i wrote this lil drabble. for the prompt: "Things you said with no space between us." [rockstar pose] tHIS ONES FOR YOU, SAM!! 
> 
> enjoy!

“You know you’re my favorite person in the whole world, right?”

The clock on Koutaro’s nightstand reads 11:43 PM, but neither he nor Shouyo is asleep. He watches the time change and pulls Shouyo in a little closer, careful not to squeeze him too tightly, as he lets Shouyo’s words sink in.

“And it’s not just sometimes,” Shouyo continues. “I love you every day, even when you’re not at your best.”

Koutaro exhales softly and closes his eyes. Shouyo is so small in his arms, and sometimes it frightens Koutaro to know how easily he could hurt him without meaning to. Yet Shouyo knows this, and willingly places himself into Koutaro’s arms every time.

Shouyo is more than just bright and loud, sunshine personified. He is unabashedly perceptive and unafraid to read someone down to the core. He knows what the say and who to say it to, and sometimes Koutaro can’t help but suspect that he can read minds.  

What really makes Shouyo special, though, is his patience.

It was the one thing Koutaro least expected to discover about him. On the court, Shouyo is eager to the point of near-franticness, always calling for the next toss or demanding another rematch. That was the Shouyo Koutaro knew first.

But when it is just the two of them, on the days like this when Koutaro is unable to keep up with life (much less Shouyo alone), he finds Shouyo slowing down willingly to wait for him, taking his hand to walk with him rather than pull him along.

Koutaro hasn’t yet managed to summon the courage to ask him, _Haven’t you gotten tired of me by now?_

Shouyo lifts his head, bringing them nose to nose and shaking Koutaro out of this thoughts. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” breathes Koutaro.

“You heard what I said?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“I meant it. I mean it every time.”  

Koutaro knows this already. He believed it the first time Shouyo said it and he believes it now, but he’s glad to hear it still, because that means Shouyo still believes it too.

“I don’t tell you enough, Shou,” says Koutaro, “how much you mean to me.”

Shouyo’s shoulders tremble, and Koutaro starts. “What’s wrong? What did I say?”

Shouyo lets out a stuttered breath, and Koutaro realizes he is actually _laughing._

“Koutaro-san, you tell me all the time,” says Shouyo.

Koutaro’s tired mind scrambles to make sense of what is happening. “What…?”

“Every time you look out for me, isn’t that just you telling me you care?” says Shouyo. He giggles, bright and warm. “Not that I mind when you say it directly.”

Koutaro swallows, suddenly aware of the warmth tingling at his fingertips, where he is gripping Shouyo’s arm. He releases his hold, and immediately Shouyo captures Koutaro’s hand in both of his. They’re so small, Shouyo’s palms are probably just barely half the width of Koutaro’s, and yet Shouyo cradles his hand like it is something fragile and precious.

“Can I tell you something else directly?” says Koutaro.

“Mm?”

“I love you. A lot. Sometimes I love you so much I feel like I could explode.”

Shouyo laughs again, and Koutaro hears the surprise and delight in his voice and feels it in the way Shouyo squeezes his hand tightly. He wishes it wasn’t so dark--he desperately wants to see Shouyo’s face.

“I love you, too,” says Shouyo. “So much I feel like I could play a hundred volleyball games in a row whenever you’re by my side.”

Koutaro snickers and pulls Shouyo into his arms. “You could probably do that anyway.”

“Yeah, but if you were there I could win every one of them,” says Shouyo. “We’d win them together.”

Shouyo’s hair brushes feather-light against Koutaro’s cheek, and a gentle sort of drowsiness settles over him like a blanket, making his eyelids heavy.

“We make a pretty good team, don’t we?” he murmurs.

Shouyo buries his face into Koutaro’s neck. “Rain or shine,” he replies. “You and me.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i've no doubt in my mind that bokuto is constantly plagued with insecurities about those mood swings he has, so i went ahead and used that as the theme for this little drabble. hope you liked it, thanks for reading!!


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